


The Perfect Sense

by AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Cuteness overload, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humour, One Shot, Prompt Fic, Soft Supercorp, Soulmates, SuperCorp, They’re big dorks, Tumblr Prompt, blind!kara, deaf!lena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-07 07:34:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15903771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda/pseuds/AiLaikHeda_OnMyBeda
Summary: Blind Kara and deaf Lena AU.Where Kara thinks Lena is a horribly rude and obnoxious person for ignoring a blind woman, even after several attempts of trying to rouse her silent companion, and Lena is completely deaf and oblivious, focusing all her attention on her cross-word puzzle until the blind woman’s furry friend captures both her attention and her heart.





	1. Chapter 1

You always hear about the stories of people who lose their eyesight from some horrific accident, or the stories of people who develop degenerative diseases, but the truth is, some people are just born like that.

Some people are born with broken or missing parts, with faults in their genetic code, and some people are born without senses. This _isn’t_ one of those stories.

What separates those people from the ones who lose their sight, specifically, is that they’ve never experience a life in the light. It’s easier to live in darkness when you haven’t experienced the light. You simply don’t know any better, you might even think it’s normal until someone tells reminds you it’s not. The point still stands though, your concept of sight is unknown, unfamiliar and doesn’t exist.

It’s a thousand times harder to live your life in the darkness, when you’ve experienced a life in the light. Everything you know, love and can see, is taken from you in a flash as the world around you encloses into a pool of blankness, and then _nothing_.

Of course, that’s a _tad_ melodramatic. Kara always was melodramatic, perks of being a theatre major, correction, _were_ the perks of being a _sighted_ theatre major. Now, Kara was just the blind girl.

Of course, being blind made Kara’s dreams of starring on broadway even slimmer than they were before. There’s not much Broadway can do with a blind girl, and Kara certainly didn’t want to end up as a prop for the rest of acting career. I mean, who wants to be a tree for the rest of their life? So, Kara quit theatre, and enrolled into Journalism at National City University.

The thing about journalism is that writing is more than just about what you can see, writing is about what you can hear aswell, and often it’s the things many people over look because it’s not right there infront of them, that are the most important details. Where many people missed small details and facts, Kara had listened, and Kara had picked up on them. That’s what made Kara one of the best reporters that CatCo had to offer.

Plus, doing journalism had also helped Kara in her new-found aspiration to author one of the greatest autobiography’s of all time, that of a blind woman. That was something that could sell, people would love a story of a blind girl defying all odds and achieving her dreams, it was inspirational.

Kara was a little cocky, and rambunctious most of the time, and she played the ‘blind card’ more than not, but who wouldn’t in her position? That’s not to say her life had become some adventure, and was turned upside down for the better, because it wasn’t.

Kara had her bad days aswell, days where she would’ve given both legs to have her eye sight. The birth of her niece was one of those days. Kara could just imagine those tiny little hands, those soft chubby cheeks, and those big, brown, sparkly eyes her niece would surely have. But that’s all she had, her imagination, and that wasn’t always enough.

If down the road Kara ended up with a family, watching them grow up was something she could _never_ do. The thought was as physically debilitating as it was mentally, Kara would never be able to see her family for as long as she lived.

The topic of how she lost her eye sight was one that Kara never really liked sharing. When people asked her, she always made up some elaborate story, the bigger the better. In some ways it helped mask Kara’s pain, and it fueled her ego more than it should have, but the reality was much, _much_ darker.

It happened during the spring break of her freshman year in college. Kara and a group of friends had decided to travel to Florida for their festivities when one of their car tires blew thanks to an old wrench left on the road. The group had hired out a mini van of sorts, with a horrible steering point and poor centre of gravity with the mass of bodies inside. The driver of the van lost control and drove off a bridge, landing in the water below where their vehicle was submerged in seconds.

Everyone had been able to make it out thanks to the broken passenger window at the front of the van, all except Kara who was still strapped in her car seat at the rear of the vehicle. It wasn’t until everyone had swam to shore that they realised Kara was amiss.

Needless to say, a partial drowning, no oxygen and a neurovascular haemorrhage don’t exactly make a friendly combination. The doctors used terms like “wake up,” “neurological deficits,” “irreparable damage,” and “we just don’t know,” but Kara saw through those lies... theoretically anyway.

She never ‘woke’, because being awake would imply being subjected to the light, being far away from the darkness and sleep, but everything was dark to Kara, period. Whether she was asleep, or ‘awake’, it was just darkness.

Despite it all, Kara tried to make _light_ of her new disability in all the ways she could. She assumed it’s where her sense of humour originated from, and if you asked Kara’s adoptive parents, it was a very dark and twisty sense of humour.

One of the things though that Kara could _never_ make light of, was her annual checkups with the specialist. She knew what the outcome would be each time she went, but she still subjected herself to the appointments. It made her adoptive family hopeful, so in a way it made Kara hopeful, but they always did have their heads up in the clouds.

Consequently, Kara had to learn real fast not to let the inevitably bad news get her spirits down, and she had to learn real fast not to let the doctors shock her with the bad news she already knew was coming. She had to be stronger than that, more resilient, which was where her humour kicked in like rapid fire. It was her pathway out of the anger and sadness that came with her loss.

Kara slumped in the seat she always did when visiting the practice, the third seat from the end of the row, silently thanking the developers that they hadn’t renovated the area yet. Unfortunately for Kara, being blind welcomed so many embarrassing instances of sitting on chairs that didn’t exist, or reaching for hands that weren’t there. Her guide dog, Harley, followed suit, sitting beside Kara on her right, closest to the door, ever the loyal animal.

Kara had gotten Harley about six months after the accident, when Harley was one year old. She was a down right brat when at home, not that Kara needed her furry friend to be on much alert at home, but Harley always shone through out in public. She was a genuine life saver for Kara, and she made the perfect blanket material in the cooler months.

Harley had quickly became the most important being in Kara’s entire world, because without her, Kara really was lost. _Literally_.

She began drumming on her knees quietly, a nervous habit she had picked up. But nerves were a good thing, they peaked her remaining senses, kept her on high alert and kept her somewhat ready for anything, which is necessary if you are blind as a bat. If it weren’t for the nerves, Kara’s ears might not have registered the faint breathing coming from beside her.

“How about the weather?” Kara asked slyly, leaning casually to her left. “I can honestly say, I haven’t seen a better day in all my years.”

Kara waited for the chuckle, but it never came.

 _Strange_.

That ice-breaker usually worked on everyone she met. Most people didn’t exactly know how to begin a conversation with a blind person, mainly because they didn’t want to startle the person. Kara had learnt that in her first few months of being blind, and like the cheeky cheek she was, she used it her advantage, gasping and jolting each time someone approached her.

After the initial shock, and realising Kara was only messing, they ended up laughing it off. It was a sure way to sniper any and all tension in the atmosphere, something Kara could see from a mile way even being the blind person she was. Most people admired her liveliness, and her sense of humour. It’s not everyday you meet someone in Kara’s situation with a similar outlook on life, especially not in Kara’s support groups.

Ah yes, the support groups. One of her adoptive mother’s, Eliza’s, more terrible ideas. Kara turned the whole thing into a joke by her sixth session, roasting the people who spoke up and snarking out responses to those who spoke back to her. Of course, she didn’t mean the things she said, but she had to find a way to be expelled indefinitely. At least Alex saw the humour in it.

Instead of a response, all Kara heard was a few disgruntled noises, laboured breathing, then the shuffling of paper, followed by the incessant clicking of a pen. Kara would recognise that sound anywhere, it practically reverberated throughout the plaster walls of her office at CatCo, even from the bullpen.

She decided not to be too discouraged, perhaps this person just hadn’t heard her, or noticed her. Kara had done that on a few occasions, although her defence was that she couldn’t _actually_ see no matter how hard she tried. “Having trouble with your cross word?” Kara asked the person beside her, trying once again to get a response.

 _Silence_.

Kara nodded, “I get it, I get it. Blind girl’s aren’t the easiest to talk to, I get it.”

“I’ll give you a hint though, eleven down is labour” Kara teased, hoping to gain at least some small acknowledgement from the person beside her, but a giggle or laugh would be even better. Kara lived for those sounds now during her life in the dark.

Again, she was met with a deafening silence, if the still clicking pen couldn’t be considered as acknowledgement.

“No, really,” Kara insisted, “nine down is labour. I would know, I write articles for CatCo magazine and their puzzles can be quite tricky sometimes.”

Kara had never been physically smacked in the face, but if she had, she was sure it would feel like this, she was sure this was the equivalent feeling. Suddenly she became desperate to fill the increasingly awkward void of silence around her. It wasn’t so much a _want_ , but rather a _need_. Since losing her sight, Kara had relied so much of her navigation and recognition of the world around her on her remaining senses, sound being the main one.

There was always noise, always sound. It comforted her in times when it was quiet and she was alone. The noise was her companion in the dark now, that and her pupper, Harley. For that reason, Kara relied on sound more than she ever had before she lost her sight, sound was her only means of communication and understanding now, if she didn’t count Braille.

When there wasn’t sound, it just felt awkward, lonely, and as though she were sinking in a bottomless pit of darkness. Noise was her remaining link to the reality she lived in, it kept her in touch and in tune with reality.

She needed sound like she needed many things. Like she needed oxygen in her lungs, like she needed her wicked sense of humour, like she needed her resilience, and like she needed Harley. Sound was her guide in the dark and noise was the light in her darkness. Without sound, she might as well be deaf too.

“You obviously don’t have a sense of humour I take it,” Kara chuckled more forcefully than not, “that’s fine, we can work on that. Everyone lacks senses here and there. You with your humour, me with my sight.”

Just when she thought she might finally get the response she had been waiting for, all that came out was... a _yawn!_ from her silent companion.

Kara couldn’t believe her ears. Defeated, she slunk back into chair sulking, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout firmly against her lips. She opted to say something else to put this _person_ in their place, but thought better of it. The one thing Kara never wanted was sympathy from people.

Sympathy wouldn’t reverse her accident, nor would it give back her sight. Sympathy was a load of horse shit. But how dare someone have the gall to just blatantly ignore her like that, particularly a blind person.

No, that Kara couldn’t stand for. Not wanting sympathy and being disrespected were two very different concepts. If someone didn’t want to be disturbed, all they had to do was say so, not be such a big bird about it. Kara couldn’t stand people like that, I mean, come on, the _audacity_.

So, Kara decided that _a lot_ of guilt tripping was in order, to show this _person_ , that she was bigger than they were and that people should never, _ever_ get on the bad side of a blind person, because they might not see what’s coming.

“You know, you’re quite honestly the _rudest_ person I’ve met. You could at least acknowledge I was talking to you. It’s kind of lonesome when all you have are your ears. But whatever, you probably aren’t the best of company anyway,” Kara chided, in the direction she could only hope the person was. She imagined it would look rather strange to see someone talking to an empty space. “I mean, how rude can you be, _honestly?_ Do you not have a soul? Do you not have a heart? No, you probably think that all of us blind people are just wastes of society, wastes of oxygen. Well, let me tell _you_ something....”

  
***

Today was a good day. A surprisingly good day. That was a lie, all days were surprisingly good days in Lena’s book for one reason and one reason only, she didn’t have to listen, deal with or take anyone’s crap, not _ever_.

Instead, Lena admired the beauty of the world in all of it’s glorious silence. She watched the cars pass by each day while she navigated the city, glimpsing the contorted faces of road raging drivers on many occasions. She saw their mouths move rapidly and their hands launch down onto their car horns, and Lena basked in the feeling of not hearing a goddamn thing.

She’d even experienced the pleasure of not hearing the sound of screaming babies when boarding flights. The world was simply much more peaceful when she couldn’t hear the complaints, the frustration, and the evil she knew existed.

Well that’s not _entirely_ true, Lena could still hear what she perceived as small vibrations, and the muffled tones coming from her bedroom speakers if she had them at full capacity, but there wasn’t much that someone with profound hearing loss could hear.

Certainly not the blonde who had just been yapping and yapping away the past ten minutes. In fact, Lena hadn’t even noticed the blonde beside her in the waiting room of the clinic at all. If she had, she would have held up a note reading; “Deaf. Do not disturb,” or something along those lines.

People often mistook her for being of sound hearing, and often started talking to her anyway, leading to some very awkward altercations.

But she didn’t, because she hadn’t noticed. She didn’t notice most people if she were honest, which made for some hilarious interactions too. On many occasions people had just assumed Lena as being inconsiderate or rude when she didn’t respond. Cue acting face and perfect sign language.

The immediate realisation and guilt on the faces of those people were definitely for the history books. If Lena had a dollar for everytime that happened, she certainly wouldn’t be living in National City. Except for that one time Lena had meddled with a menopausal housewife, and the elder woman entered the hysterical phase of crying upon realising Lena’s situation. Most of the time though, Lena’s more insidious side internally sniggered at just how trash the person must of been feeling.

In a way, the issues could be avoided if people engaged further without assuming Lena being rude so soon, if they maybe tapped her shoulder, or noticed the small tattoo behind her ear which was _literally_ of a hearing aid. As if that wasn’t telling enough, but people got tattoos of anything and everything nowadays, so there was no credibility in Lena’s.

Just last week Lena saw a man with a polka-dot tattoo on his neck, but did that make him a Dalmatian? _No_.

However, people like that came and went, and playing the victim card just became second nature for her. She was still yet to find someone who could appreciate and understand her humour, instead of act sympathetic toward her. Lena often signed some harsh words to those people, and she would have done so to the oblivious and rambling blonde if she had even noticed, but her crossword had taken precedents above everything else.

Lena was very gifted in the art of the English language. Since she couldn’t hear, she read everything she could, ranging from detergent bottle warnings when she went shopping, all the way to doctorate report papers she simply read for fun when her mother brought home a load of papers from the university.

Saying that Lena had an advanced understanding of English vocabulary was an understatement. Lena prided herself on the knowledge she had of words that surpassed many people of sound. Her comprehensive ability and skills made doing most logic puzzles and crossword puzzles fairly simple, and Lena rarely ever got stumped on a clue.

But for the past fifteen minutes, Lena was stuck on on the most ridiculous of questions. She grunted and she groaned, complaining to herself about her inability to answer the clue. She even went as far as to recheck each surrounding word, then the words surrounding the surrounding words just in case she made a mistake somewhere.

There’s was _nothing_. Nothing except one measley clue preventing her from finishing her crossword. She grunted even louder, shaking the magazine pages in irritation as if she shook hard enough, the answer might appear. When she placed the magazine back on her lap, her anger effectively evaporated at the wet, golden snout which scooched and planted itself upon the page.

Her eyes averted up to meet the dark brown of a shaggy dog, it’s tail wagging erratically as though it sensed Lena’s discomfort and irritation. Lena lost all interest in her puzzle in seconds, and began petting the beautiful, furry creature infront of her, her grunts becoming more like sighs of affection.

She wondered who the animal belonged to, wondered if the furry creature had just wandered off from it’s frantic owner. The dog had a tag, Harley, enough to indicate she was owned. Also enough to squash Lena’s inner’s hopes of taking the dog home with her.

She smiled down at the well behaved pet, stroking her head lovingly when she noticed a small inscription on the fabric upon the side of her collar, adjacent to her identification. The small inscription read, “Guide dog. Please return me to my blind companion...”

Lena didn’t quite have time to finish reading, as it was then she noticed a flurry of movements from the corner of her eye. She hadn’t noticed the woman beside her before, for how long she didn’t know, but it was hard to unnotice now that she had. The first thing that struck Lena wasn’t the woman’s beauty, no, that came third. The first thing that struck her was the way the woman’s entire demeanour and expression was practically radiating fumes from her apparent infuriation.

Lena was caught in a storm she wasn’t sure how to escape from, much less how it started.

The second thing she noticed was the way the woman’s mouth was moving at a mile a minute, and how her anger seemed to be directed at Lena and only Lena. Lena did a quick survey of the room, noticing she was the _only_ person around.

_Yep, definitely her._

Lena didn’t _exactly_ need hearing to know what the blonde was ranting about, she could make out more than enough profanities through watching the movement of the blonde’s glossy lips.

The blonde only seemed to get more mad by the second, caught up in whatever she was ranting on about. Lena couldn’t recall actually doing anything to the woman at all to warrant this kind of response, she’s void of hearing, not of memory.

She frantically looked around for help, hoping someone might have appeared in those few seconds, but found the lobby to still be empty, along with the reception desk where a bright green card was visible, reading; “back in 10 minutes.”

 _Great_.

Lena was stuck with a looney, with an absolute nutcase, a beautiful nutcase but a nutcase all the same. Hopefully this nutcase wasn’t aggressive... too late.

She only just dodged a flailing arm headed straight for her head, and managed to only just capture the second arm with her own.

“Stop!” Lena pleaded, as clearly as she could.

The woman infront of her went rigid, and Lena could feel each individual muscle twitch in the grasp of her hand. “I’m deaf,” Lena spoke again, signing towards herself. She realised a second too late that signing would be useless, as the person infront of her must have been the owner of the dog she was petting less than a minute ago .

What came next, however, shocked her beyond belief. She couldn’t tell if it was the speed at which the the girl reefed her hands from Lena, or if it was when she started signing back which shook her most.

Lena’s mouth hung ajar as she watched the intricate hand gestures of the woman infront of her. “I’m sorry. I thought you were ignoring me,” Lena read.

“No, I’m sorry,” Lena spoke, signing as well to aid her verbal communication, “I did not see you.”

Again, she realised a second too late what she had said. Luckily for her though, the woman wasn’t able to see the ripening colour which flushed Lena’s cheeks, and she had a sense of humour too apparently. Instead of scolding Lena, the girl laughed, a head back and hands on stomach kind of laugh. Lena only imagined it sounded just as beautiful as it looked.

“I did not see you either I’m afraid,” the blonde woman signed back, her shoulders still shaking from a quiet laughter.

Lena smiled briefly, now completely mesmerised by this easy-going beauty instead of being fearful. “How are you able to sign?” Lena asked, before she could stop her curious self.

The blonde woman smiled softly, her golden locks falling over her shoulders as she dipped her head slightly to clear her throat. If only she could see the way that smile effected Lena. Long, nimble fingers brushed away golden locks, “I was not always blind,” the woman signed.

Lena nodded, her intrigue peaking about this beautifully strange woman before her. Usually Lena wasn’t so desperate to engage with people, doing so was a burden more than not because the majority of the population either couldn’t sign, or made a complete mess of it.

Instead, people would pull out note pads, or even laptops and start writing things, shoving their devices and pads into Lena’s space, which Lena found to become quite irritable more than anything. A few times Lena had to restrain herself from throwing those expensive devices away, but this woman was something else.

The blonde heard it first, and before Lena could communicate any further, a tall man in a crisp office suit approached. His identification tag read; Dr J’onzz, and Lena knew straight away that the blonde would be whisked away quicker than she would have liked.

She watched the exchange between the blonde and the tall man who was crouching down to their level. She saw the blonde briefly nod before the man helped her to her feet.

Lena felt entirely helpless as she watched the beauty be guided away into the hallway beyond reception. She kept her eyes strained in the direction the blonde went for a few seconds after the girl disappeared, and just as Lena was about to look away, she was surprised to see the girl quickly return.

She knelt down, as gracefully as a blind person could, and Lena reached for the girl’s forearms to steady her. Once she was settled, the blonde smiled again and began signing, “I almost forgot, do you like coffee? Swipe my right for yes, swipe my left for no.”

Lena laughed, louder than she had hoped, as she recognised the blonde’s facial muscles squinting in displeasure. She cupped her mouth and re-collected herself.

Since swiping was quite literally something she couldn’t do, Lena opted to grasp the blonde’s right hand in her own, and she administered a firm squeeze. The stranger just smiled even wider, a toothy kind of smile, a sunshine kind of smile.

“Wait for me”, the blonde signed, then she stood, and Lena recognised her nod of approval, her ecstatic wave, then the blonde was whisked away once again.

Lena sat there a few minutes, smiling to herself as a warm feeling spread throughout her body, making every nerve in her body tingle in excitement. She picked up her crossword again and began steadily tapping the pen against the page as she set herself to finish the puzzle before the blind girl returned.


	2. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Due to popular request, I decided to write another chapter featuring the Supercorp date :) I hope it’s just as funny and enjoyable as the first chapter! First chapters are always the hardest to follow up on with a decent second chapter.

The smell of freshly grounded coffee beans had always been a favourite scent of Kara’s. It reminded her of Midvale, the small town she grew up in after her parent’s untimely passing. Due to its size, Midvale was very secluded, only housing one high school, and one major shopping centre which became a novelty for most of the population, making it the busiest region in the entire town.

That never bothered Kara when she was younger though, it meant she was able to save a fortune on transportation as she was able to walk or cycle to and from where she needed to be.

The beach was only a fifteen minute walk from Midvale high, a popular recreational area for many students after a long day of school. The bay was a further ten minutes from the beach, home to the best fish and chip take away store Kara had ever experienced.

If she walked in the opposite direction from Midvale high, the shopping centre was only fifteen minutes away too, the second most popular area for students after school. Kara ventured there more afternoon’s than not in her sophomore through to senior years, consequence of becoming the town favourite barista.

It was something about Kara’s personality that people fell in love with within minutes, her ability to replicate the sun itself, her rays falling warmly upon everyone she encountered. It did help she was quite the clutz, and almost every shift she had a new story to tell her customers on how she almost broke the coffee machine or industrial dishwasher.

But it was never work that Kara despised, in fact, it never really felt like work at all, apart from the cleaning duties, that was the worst part. Instead, working at _Charlie’s Corner,_ named after the owner of course, had been one of Kara’s favourite memories of Midvale. She quickly became accustomed to the varying scents of coffee bean and tea leaves, and eventually it became a necessity more than anything to be around.

Kara used to sneak home handfuls of coffee beans and tea leaves, then she’d leave them in small tupperware containers to retain their scent, with each container housing a different kind of scent or flavour. When her employer found out, he docked Kara’s pay of course, but that was least concerning to Kara.

Her employment as a barista was her first ever experience in the working industry, and it wasn’t surprising that the memories had become very sentimental for Kara, specifically whenever she went to National City’s more higher end cafe’s with their exquisite coffee beans. The smell alone was enough to catapult Kara back into some of the best memories of her life.

That was another thing that struck Kara though, never again would she be able to see the town in which she grew up in. Never again would she be able to see her adoptive parent’s home, the faces of the people she knew, the white expanse of the beach, the cafè she worked in, or the high school she attended. All that was left were the memories of those places.

Kara had memorised Midvale like the back of her hand, but even that would change over the years, becoming more pale, wrinkled and dry, and Kara would never witness it, she would never witness anything anymore.

The doctors had told her as much, that the smell or sounds of certain things may become triggering to Kara, stimulating nostalgic memories buried deep inside her mind. They had been right of course, almost every day Kara’s remaining senses encountered something which would trigger a time or memory before Kara lost her sight.

It was a mind set she battled each day, with each day in the darkness becoming harder than the last. Just like she predicted, the doctors had the same news this time that they’d given her the past few years, “we’re sorry, but there’s been no improvement.”

Kara wanted to retort something like, “well no shit, doc!” or “obviously, I’m still blind,” or even better, “yes, I can see that.” She refrained from doing so, as the entire session was documented and sent to her adoptive parents back in Midvale. Last time Kara tried something like that, she received an earful from Eliza over the phone.

Alex had been there for support while Eliza lectured her over the phone, but it was the worst feeling in the world to disappoint Eliza after everything the woman had done for Kara. It was hard for Eliza and Jeremiah too, and Kara knew that. The pair had been entrusted to look after Kara when they adopted her, and since the accident, Kara knew that deep down they felt as if they had failed Kara somehow.

She wished that wasn’t the case, and Kara _never_ felt that way herself, she couldn’t have asked for a better adoptive family. It was just her luck of the draw, but she couldn’t complain about _everything_. Definitely not about the fact that she was on a possible date, if it could even be considered a _date_ , for the first time in a year.

She had tried dating blind before, and even blind dating on occasion. Many men and women had offered to take Kara out over the years, but none of them stuck around after the second and third date. Perhaps they realised that dating a blind woman would be too much work, or they just didn’t understand Kara’s cynical sense of humour, or perhaps they just wanted to boost their ego for a short few weeks to make themselves feel better about their own crappy life.

Kara would never know, apart from that one man _she_ ended up cancelling on because of his allergies to dogs. Choosing between Harley and her date was a no brainer, besides, she could find a new date, but she’d never find another Harley.

Being it her first date in a year, and a date with a woman no less, Kara was definitely more nervous than she had been when talking to the woman in the clinic. She knew little of her date other than the fact her name was Lena, she had excellent taste in coffee, if Kara’s sense of smell was anything to go off, that she was deaf, obviously, and that she was chivalrous.

The cafe they ended up going to was a short walk from the clinic, yet Kara had never been. Kara prided herself on visiting and knowing every cafe that the city had to offer, but apparently she missed one. Since she had no clue where they were headed, her date, Lena, had taken Kara’s free arm in her own and had guided Kara to where they’d be visiting, giving Harley a run for her skill.

It was comforting being guided by someone other than Harley. Harley was a fantastic guide dog, but sometimes Kara ached for the touch of a human, someone who could help her without the addition of sympathy. She ached for someone who understood what it was like to need that assistance, while still retaining independence.

She couldn’t see the way Lena looked at her, but from the short time she’d spent with the girl, she could tell Lena looked at her unlike anyone had before.

Upon walking through the doors, Kara was hit with a tidal wave of nostalgia. The overpowering smell of coffee bean was almost enough to knock the sight right back inside of Kara, almost enough to knock her back ten years into the past.

There was enough chatter around to tell Kara the cafe was a hotspot of sorts, or that all the public servants and corporate workers were taking lunch break. Kara never did keep up with the time of day anymore, there was simply no point. Everything was dark to her, apart from minor shadows and blobs here and there, so the time of day had little to no consequence.

Lena had guided them deep inside the cafe, presumably to the back where there was less chatter, and where the booths were. She mentally thanked Lena for their choice of seating. Relying on her sound alone was tough when Kara communicated with people, but with the addition of excess noise in her immediate environment, it was almost impossible.

No more than a few seconds after they had sat down, a waitress came strolling over, unbeknownst to _both_ Kara and Lena.

“Hi, would you two ladies like some water while you browse your menus?” The sprightly voice asked.

Instead of answering the waitress, Kara sat there silent, waiting for a response from Lena to verify the waitress was infact addressing them. Too many times Kara had responded to a waitress who had been serving the table beside her, or across from her. She could never _really_ be sure she was being spoken to unless someone directly used her name, or touched her shoulder to capture her attention.

But Lena could, Lena most definitely could. That was, unless, she was busy browsing the menu already and hadn’t seen the waitress approach. She certainly couldn’t hear anything Kara was saying earlier, _thankfully_ , so there was no chance she’d be able to hear the waitress.

“Sorry, are you talking to us?” Kara asked politely after waiting a long minute for Lena.

“Yes,” the woman responded, slightly less sprightly than before.

“We’re not quite ready to order yet, so water would be lovely. Could you give us a few minutes please?” Kara asked, hoping the waitress wouldn’t disappear and not come back at all.

“No worries. Here’s you go, and I’ll come back in five!” The voice called cheerfully, placing what Kara guessed to be the water on the table, if the metallic noise was anything to go by.

Kara reached across the table, searching for Lena’s hand. She found the soft skin of Lena’s forearm, and traced it down to her hand, already clutching the water jug.

Kara immediately pulled her hand away in embarrassment. “Sorry,” she signed.

“Would you like some water?” Lena asked, looking very much flushed as well, unbeknownst to Kara.

Kara smiled brightly and nodded her head. “Thankyou. I am afraid I would make quite the mess if I tried,” Kara signed in response.

That was another thing which plagued Kara’s independence. She could pour herself a drink no doubt, but whether that drink would end up in her cup or on the floor was a different story.

Lena’s little giggle was music to Kara’s ears, and Kara found herself wondering if Lena knew she was doing it even though she couldn’t hear herself, or if it was just an instinctual response to fill in the silence. She heard the telltale signs of water being poured into her cup and signed a quick, “thankyou.”

Eagerly, Kara patted down the table again, searching for what she hoped to be the menu. When her hand found a large rectangular book, she pulled it towards herself, placing it flat on table while she stared thoughtfully at the pages.

“I think,” Kara signed, still flicking through the book in debate, even though she couldn’t see a goddamn thing, “the eggs on toast, or the omelette with salmon sounds nice. Perhaps the banana smoothie too?”

She felt the table vibrate long before the noise left Lena’s mouth, and soon enough, Lena was chuckling hysterically. “That’s an art book, Kara, _not_ a menu,” Lena sorted, trying to hold in her laughter as best she could, as not to come off as rude.

Rude was the farthest thing from Kara’s mind, however, it was more like mystified or unraveled. Here she had a woman infront of her, not afraid to correct her on the things she couldn’t see, even though Kara was just trying to get a cheap laugh, and someone who didn’t pity her. She couldn’t explain how amazing it felt to be able to share humour like this with someone who truly knew how to enjoy themselves.

Everyone else had always been so cautious, so highly strung as not to offend Kara. Not Lena though, Lena was something else entirely.

Kara grinned, hoping Lena hadn’t averted her gaze. “In that case, I will take one Picasso, and a Van Gough to go,” Kara signed, hoping she hadn’t totally messed up her gestures into a complete waffle of nonsense.

Lena’s laughter came much harder and louder, and if Kara were honest, she’d be fine with being blind for the rest of her life if it meant being able to hear what was quickly becoming one of her favourite sounds.

“Really though,” Lena wheezed, “I think we should have a look at the menu. I’ll read the options for you.”

Kara suppressed a laugh of her own, agreed, reaching to put the art book all of things, back in the direction she found it.

She didn’t mean to, Kara never meant to, except that one time Alex was being insufferable at trivia night, but along the way, her hand knocked into the metallic jug with enough momentum to send it toppling over into the direction of her date.

Kara reached, grasped and grabbed at nothing but air. All of her attempts were spoiled when she heard a metallic ring and splash of water cascading over the table.

By the powers of inertia, Kara cursed the world, cursed physics, and herself.

***

_Wet._

_Dripping wet._

It took a few moments for Lena to register what happened, to register why she was so wet.

The waitress came over immediately with a towel in hand, and Lena shook her head, a non-verbal instruction for the waitress to leave. People were staring, and Lena felt like telling them to flog off, but doing so would alert Kara, and Kara didn’t need the additional stress of knowing people were staring at them, not with the state she was in.

When she looked up, Lena saw the immediate panic seep through Kara’s face at what she had just accidentally done. The seemingly bubbly blonde had gone from being completely relaxed to completely mortified in an instant. If Lena were honest, she’d never seen someone so frightened in her life.

It all happened in slow motion to Lena, that’s how fast it really went. The blind girl stood up, fumbling for a napkin, some papers, whatever her hands could find to offer Lena something to dry herself with. Lena knew she didn’t need her hearing to be able to recognise the distress Kara was in, her eyes worked perfectly fine for that, although in this instance, she wished they didn’t.

*

If Lena counted the number of times she’d been on dates, she could do it on two fingers. They were pretty upsetting figures if you asked Lena, but there wasn’t much she could do.

Dates don’t exactly sprout from the ground like flowers in spring when you can’t communicate with the person you’re with, and Lena found that to be the case with just about everyone she met, date or no date.

It had always been that way, so Lena was used to it, as harsh as it was. Though, she’d hate to think that she’d have to live the rest of her life alone simply because she was deaf. It wouldn’t be a problem if sign language was a mandatory subject taught in school, much like doing a language is mandatory for a few years.

If Lena had the power to do so, she’d make it happen in a heart beat. But parents and the government cared more if their children were bilingual, not if they could communicate with the unfortunate children who couldn’t communicate themselves.

Lena had experienced that childhood first hand, and it made her learning one of the hardest things she’d ever had to accomplish. Lena had to work twice as hard to become half as good as the people around her. Lena had extra tutors, speech therapist and and psychologists working with her daily to keep her healthy, engaged, and on top of her work.

In the end, all the hard work paid off, and Lena had ended up graduating as Valedictorian of Metropolis Academy, despite facing the biggest obstacle of all, she couldn’t hear.

If it wasn’t for her core support network working relentlessly, Lena may have been unable to talk at all, a fate so common for children born with congenital deafness.

That’s not to say Lena’s childhood was full of academic study and practice to keep her infront of the pack, because it wasn’t. Lena had a childhood like most others had, full of birthday parties, family vacations and what not. She even went on the first ever of her two dates with a boy, Winston, who also had congenital deafness aswell. He was a shy boy, but harboured the biggest crush that Lena had ever received.

Unfortunately for Winston, his verbal communication was very poor, but luckily, he was well familiar with signing, so conversations were made simpler with Lena.

In the end, they only went on the one date, but Lena still kept in friendly contact with Winston as the years passed. He ended up working for a non-profit organisation who raised money for children like himself and Lena, who are born with congenital deafness. Winston had definitely made some tracks in the world from being that shy boy Lena remembered him as.

The second date Lena went on was with a girl in her literature class during junior year oh high school. Lena found out later on that the girl only paid interest in her to get to her older brother, Alexander. That was a bit of a fiasco and burn to Lena’s heart. After that, Lena more or less gave up on the prospect of searching for love, or even dates for that matter. She certainly didn’t listen for them either.

All those years without dates or relationships weren’t so bad though, Lena always was more of an introvert. She’d rather stay home and watch a good romcom, or read a crime mystery with a bottle of cheap prosecco than be out in a fancy restaurant with someone.

Most nightclubs were a no go as well, as Lena didn’t suit well in an environment of being clustered around hot, sticky bodies less than an inch away from her in every direction. It was suffocating, and quite frankly, nightclubs smelled like feet. It was in those times Lena wished she was void of smell as well, particularly in the nightclub bathrooms.

At least she’d never had the displeasure of hearing the mindless profanities which happened frequently in the bathrooms, or the dry wrenching of drunken bodies slumped over the filthy floors.

The hassle of communicating with people played a major role in Lena’s decision to abstain from dating, but also because Lena never wanted to feel obligated in a relationship.

It wouldn’t be fair to her or the person she’d be with if that was the case. She believed that if being with someone felt more like a chore than a natural process, maybe they aren’t the person you’re meant to be with.

It was quite the opposite with the woman she’d just met in the clinic though. The crazy blonde was clearly an extrovert, the complete opposite of Lena, but more importantly, the last person Lena ever imagined herself going on a date with was a blind person.

Not that she had a problem with blind people, she was deaf after all, but she found the entire situation ironic. Out of everyone she could have ended up having coffee with, it was a blind woman, Kara, who even knew how to sign above everything else.

Usually when Lena associated interaction between a blind person and a deaf person, it was worse than associating interaction between a deaf, or blind person and someone with full senses. Her theory was even proven by her first interaction with Kara in the clinic. It just so happened that Kara’s ability to sign was the lifeline which held this peculiar association together.

She couldn’t tell if this was the universe’s way of insulting her, laughing at her, or actually helping her for once. What she did know was that she was absolutely smitten with the blonde. It’s not everyday she met someone who ticked off all her boxes, in fact she’d never met anyone who could. Her ideal partner had to be exuberant, to compensate for Lena’s more shy and reserved self. They had to know how to sign most definitely, they had to be able to make her laugh, and they had to make Lena want a second date.

Gender never really was part of that equation, nor a big deal to Lena. To her, love was love, within the bounds of being moral of course. So whether her partner had a jingle and some bells down there was of no consequence. Whether her partner had eyes that worked or not, that too was of no consequence, it was everything else that mattered to Lena.

Not even the idea that Kara would never be able to see her worried Lena, in fact that might have almost been a good thing. Lena never really did like her bed head. More importantly, not even the fact that Kara had just knocked over a jug of ice cold water all over her could send Lena running for the hills.

If anything, that was an accomplishment. No one had ever been able to get Lena wet on the first date.

Lena immediately reached for Kara’s fumbling hands, seizing them in her own, and Kara stopped her movements abruptly.

Although Lena couldn’t hear anything, she watched the rapid rising and falling of the blonde’s chest, and she could practically see the air Kara was erratically inhaling and exhaling like a two way valve.

“It’s okay, Kara,” Lena soothed surely, trying to calm the stressing blonde.

Kara shook her head rapidly and began waving her hands around. “I am so sorry, Lena. I am so sorry,” she signed over and over, even resorting to mumbling the phrase as well.

Lena didn’t know what she could do to calm the blonde, seeing Kara in this much distress was almost distressing to Lena. She knew first hand just how embarrassing accidents like this could be, and although there was no humour whatsoever in Kara’s state, she started chuckling, hoping that the sound would be enough to settle Kara.

“I assure you, it’s completely fine. But at least wait until the second date to get a girl wet, Kara,” Lena said slyly, with a tinge of seriousness.

Her tone hadn’t gone amiss, and this time when Kara’s cheeks flushed, they flushed for an entirely different reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a little bit on Lena’s history in this chapter. I was debating whether to write Lena as having congenital hearing loss or acquired hearing loss, and congenital just seemed the way to go since Kara’s vision loss was acquired.
> 
> I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment last chapter, I wasn’t at all expecting the responses I got. It really is the biggest compliment how happy I made you guys with the first chapter, particularly as someone who just writes for fun. That’s all I try to do when I write, so thankyou for all your support and I hope I’ve done justice with this chapter :)

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt was taken from a suggestion on @Supercorp-prompt-zone on tumblr. I hope if whoever suggested the prompt finds this, they enjoy reading it just as much as I found their idea funny.
> 
> There’s quite a few references in here which aren’t meant to be taken seriously. Thoughts are in the mind of my characters, so it’s meant to be enjoyable, not taken to heart. When I read the prompt for this, I believed it had big potential to be funny, so I hope I’ve made at least one of you readers smile.
> 
> If you like this prompt edition, you can always submit your own to me on Twitter @AiLaikHeda___ . Thankyou for reading :)
> 
> P.s. I didn’t want to assume how deaf people sound when talking, so all communication is in full English. Also, many deaf people are good speakers in general... so yeah.


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